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'Everything you've done in your life is public'

A recent flurry of resignations and apologies raises questions about the vetting process of party candidates in an era when questionable blog postings, essays and videos lurk on the Internet, waiting to be dug up by political foes.

A recent flurry of resignations and apologies raises questions about the vetting process of party candidates in an era when questionable blog postings, essays and videos lurk on the Internet, waiting to be dug up by political foes.

On Saturday, Conservative candidate Chris Reid, author of the controversial blog "Political thoughts from a Gay Conservative," resigned from the race in Toronto Centre.

The Liberal Party is under fire from the Conservatives over Harper-bashing essays written by Dufferin-Caledon candidate Rebecca Finch in an online magazine.

And in British Columbia, the NDP has seen one of its candidates apologize for skinny dipping in the presence of minors and two others resign over open marijuana use. Gerry Scott, the NDP campaign manager in B.C., said the party's candidate vetting process will be reviewed.

NDP campaign spokesperson Brad Lavigne said today's politicians must realize "everything that you've done in your life is public."

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Lavigne said the fifth and final question on the NDP "personal disclosure questionnaire" is the catch-all where potential candidates are expected to reveal anything that might get them into trouble during a campaign. The question: "Is there any matter in which you were/are involved which has/may result in an accusation of impropriety or illegality, of the sort that would cause embarrassment to you or the New Democratic Party?"

"It comes down to an issue of trust," Lavigne said. "You have to trust people's full disclosure, that they tell us everything that they can remember."

The Conservative Party refuses to reveal any information about its process for vetting candidates. "We do have a process, it's effective, but other than that we don't discuss it," Conservative spokesperson Deirdra McCracken said yesterday.

The Liberal Party's 15-page personal information form asks potential candidates, among other things, whether they were ever suspended from school, owe any outstanding taxes, have been convicted of plagiarism, or have been the subject of criminal or civil proceedings.

It also asks for a comprehensive list of anything they have written that has been "published or widely distributed through the Internet or other means."

Finch said she listed her work and felt confident that the Liberal Party had reviewed it because it took her so long to be checked. Liberal spokesperson Daniel Lauzon said the party stands by its vetting process and by Finch's decision to keep her writing available online.

But that does not mean the party supports Finch calling Stephen Harper a "malignant narcissist" and a "grudge-bearing nerd," as she does online at metaball.ca, he said.

In an email message yesterday, former Conservative candidate Reid said his online comments – where he wrote, for example, that concealed handguns should be legalized and hate speech laws should be banned – were "playing devil's advocate to aid in discussion."

In August, Reid posted comments on a Facebook group about the Liberal Party's Green Shift plan. About sexual harassment in the workplace, he wrote: "It does happen, but it's rare. If it was commonplace, it would just give more reason to the argument that woman and men shouldn't be in the workplace together, as it's counterproductive."

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